music “Anything but country” is a common sentiment among music snobs, as in “I love Radiohead and the Wu-Tang Clan…really, anything but country.” In Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman hogties this statement—fans of most music genres can find something to appreciate in songs about trucks and dogs. But Klosterman never addresses the other type of music fan, for whom “anything but country” is an affront to the ears.
 George Strait took the John Paul Jones Arena down a long, dusty trail of hits on Friday night—and wore his best hat for the occasion. |
And maybe there is no such fan. The three musicians that performed for a record crowd (14,000+) at the John Paul Jones Arena were no more “pure country” than the faux-hayseeds in the seats next to me, who ran to nab an autograph from opener Taylor Swift immediately following her set of “American Idol”-friendly twang.
Swift’s short set included radio hit “Tim McGraw” and the sassy “Picture to Burn,” the latter a Dolly Parton update made all the more appropriate due to Swift’s bouncing blonde curls (roughly half her body mass).
Sixty-three-year-old legend Ronnie Milsap bobbed and rocked through cuts from his 40+ year career, from “No Gettin’ Over Me” to “Smoky Mountain Rain,” and threw in songs from 2006’s My Life. Milsap, born blind, was led by his backup singer around the diamond-shaped stage to gales of applause following his final number, a cover of “Honky Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones.
George Strait took the stage in a belt buckle the size of a dinner plate and a hat as comically out of proportion as Yosemite Sam’s, and worked through more than 25 songs from a catalogue that includes 50 number one singles. Flatscreens in the center of the arena filled with amber light for the gorgeous “Amarillo by Morning,” and with humorours shots of cows for “Milk Cow Blues,” the most obvious extended sexual metaphor since The Who’s “Squeezebox.”
Along with Alan Jackson, Strait is one of the few “traditional country stars” left, say fans from Don Imus to my mother. Considering the range of acts and song ages, however, fans got anything but traditional country. Rather, any individual from an enormous crowd could pick out different highs and lows from a long and enjoyable evening.